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Re: Stros Fans
I was pleasantly surprised at the play of JR Towles and Josh Anderson down the stretch. Do you think either of these guys can parlay their late-season play into a starting position next spring?
Anderson particularly may be a stretch, but I like his speed & the fact that he's a lefty. Also, word is that Mike Cameron may be interested in playing CF for Houston next season...
IMO, the biggest need for the Astros is starting pitching.Originally Posted by playdablues
Towles may be the catcher in the future. He had a good September but it is too early to tell.
Anderson may not find a spot to play in the outfield with Hunter Pence, Luke Scott, Carlos Lee and possibly Mike Cameron on the roster.
Did I mention that the Astros greatest need is starting pitchers? I haven't done a lot of research yet to find out who is a free agent. Any ideas?
Starting pitchers
Tony Armas (30) - $5MM mutual option for '08
Kris Benson (33) - $7.5MM club option for '08
Paul Byrd (37) - $8MM club option for '08
Shawn Chacon (30)
Roger Clemens (46)
Matt Clement (33)
Bartolo Colon (35)
Josh Fogg (31)
Casey Fossum (30)
Freddy Garcia (32)
Tom Glavine (42) - $9MM player option for '08
Livan Hernandez (33)*
Jason Jennings (29)
Joe Kennedy (29)
Byung-Hyun Kim (29)
Brian Lawrence (32)
Jon Lieber (38)
Kyle Lohse (29)
Rodrigo Lopez (32)
Greg Maddux (42) - $8.75MM player option or $11MM club option for '08
Eric Milton (32)
Tomo Ohka (32)
Russ Ortiz (34)
Odalis Perez (31) - $9MM club option for '08
Andy Pettitte (36) - $16MM player option for '08
Joel Pineiro (29)
Kenny Rogers (43)
Curt Schilling (41)
Carlos Silva (29)
Julian Tavarez (35) - $3.85MM club option for '08
John Thomson (34)
Brett Tomko (35) - $4.5MM mutual option for '08
Steve Trachsel (37) - $4.75MM club option for '08
Koji Uehara (33)
Jeff Weaver (31)
David Wells (45)
Kip Wells (31)
Randy Wolf (31) - $9MM club option for '08
Jamey Wright (34)
Jaret Wright (32)
I found this list, not betting on reliability, but I dont see anyone that will be a cornerstone. The best guys are old and the young guys mostly suck or have underachieved and wont be worth the money. Carlos Silva might be the best option, not overpowering, but a sinker ball guy who gets ground balls, needed in Minute Maid.
Split the team in the Grapefruit league and count all those wins as well.
Casey Fossum doesn't get anyone out and wasn't good enough to keep a spot on the Devil Rays bullpen. The Astros would rather have a promotion in which a fan was randomly selected, blindfolded, and required to finish the inning than have Fossum on the hill.
I sure wish we had waited to make the manager permanent. Rumor is LaRussa is going to be available.
Re: Stros Fans
What the hell is Ed Wade doing? *sigh*
He didn't think our minor league teams were depleted enough, so he finished the job.
Outside of Oswalt, we have no pitching. Backe at the 2? Wow!
Re: Stros Fans
I guess they're planning on winning a lot of games 10-8 :icon_wink:
Lidge, Bruntlet, Patton, Albers, Safarte, Scott and Anderson for Bourn, Geary, Tejada and Villarreal. Color me very unimpressed.
Also, I heard Tejada can opt out of his current deal after 2008. I've been too depressed to verify that.
I'm not impressed either. I feel like a citizen of Barrow, Alaska going into the 65 days in which the sun remains below the horzon. The only light is the civil twilight that last a couple of hours each day.
The civil twighlight for the Astros is the batting order:
Bourne
Matsui
Pence
Tejada
Lee
Berkman
Wigginton
Towles
Pitcher
No, its not a noon-day sun, but it is a diffuse light in the Nationa League. We should be able to score some runs.
We will look forward to Oswalt starts. We are going to miss Jason Hirsh for a long time.
IMO, the Astros are not winning the 'hot stove' league. Some of the fan favorites and pitchers with potential are being traded. I sure hope he knows what he is doing.
CBS is reporting Clemens is named in the Mitchell Report. I suspected that. There was a time when he was simply out of control, and nobody could keep up that work-out regimine and still pitch every five days.
My son idolized that guy, and wanted to get to the point he could work as hard as Clemmens. When my son worked that hard, I could see signs of fatigue. That is when I realized the importance of exposing the cheaters.
Purge his records from the books.
Last edited by Soonerdawg; 12-13-2007 at 10:33 AM.
The Astros have traded IF/OF Chris Burke, RP Chad Qualls and P Juan Gutierrez to the Diamondbacks for closer Jose Valverde. Valverde, 1-4, 2.66 ERA led the majors with 47 saves for the Diamondbacks in 2007. The 47 saves was his career-high and he was a first time All-Star.
The 2008 Astros will have a completely new look. I'm not convinced that Ed Wade is doing what is best, but only time will tell.
Come on now. Berkman all the way down to sixth in the lineup? No way.
I didn't mean this to be in the exact order. I had about 15 seconds to make that post. I know that sounds like a cop out, but it was true.
With that said, I sure hope he hits better this year.
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